Blackwell, 70, was Barry Goldwater’s youngest elected delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1964, served as a special assistant to President Reagan at the White House, and has held leadership positions with the College Republicans and the Republican National Committee. But few election nights matched Tuesday’s jubilation as his party routed Democrats and regained power of the House of Representatives. Blackwell is also founder and president of the influential Leadership Institute, an educational foundation in Arlington that has trained thousands of conservatives for politics, government and the media. He sat down with The Washington Examiner to share thoughts on his faith in conservative politics, inspired by a deep faith in God.
Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?
I am an Anglican Christian, and I come from a long line of Anglicans. My great-grandfather was a Church of England minister in Birmingham, and his father before him, and his father before him, back hundreds of years. I’m very comfortable in the church — it’s what I grew up with. I like the liturgy — in fact, I like the liturgy that I grew up with better than the new one. The 1948 Book of Common Prayer has some of the most beautiful and inspiring writing to be found.
You’ve been around conservative politics for a long time. How has the Republican Party changed since the 1960s?
When I became active, there were two wings of the party. There were the conservative folks, and then there were the Eastern Establishment Republicans — the Rockefeller Republicans. But over time, conservatives have figured out what I’d describe as the real nature of politics, which is that the winner in a political contest over time is determined by the number and effectiveness of the activists on the respective sides. Conservatives who figured that out set out to create new organizations and build on existing ones, and they’ve dramatically increased their success. They owed it to their philosophy to figure out how to win.
You mention three major waves of conservative influence that you’ve seen in your lifetime — first there was Goldwater, then the awakening of theological conservatives in the late 1970s into the 1980s, and now the Tea Party movement. What does it say about the Republican Party that it has incorporated ideologically different movements?
As far as the Left is concerned, it’s been exactly the same problem. According to the Left, the new people coming to the party are ignorant and stupid and racist and potentially violent, and they’ll never be integrated successfully with the pre-existing Republican Party. And the Left has been wrong about that in every respect.
Anyone who is smart is broad-minded enough to allow people to support his candidate for the reason of their choice. And while there are differences and forces that draw people apart, there are forces that draw people together, as well. If the same leaders of divergent groups — pro-gun, pro-life, anti-tax, strong defense — if over a series of elections they find themselves sitting around the same table supporting the same candidates, or working for or against the same pieces of legislation, then they become comfortable with each other. They get to know each other by first name. There’s a camaraderie that develops, despite differences. Before long, the leader of one group is invited to the home of another and the dog wags his tail rather than barks. That’s how coalitions become movements.
What elements of leadership must conservatives employ in the next two years if they’re to move the country forward?
I think certainly the most important thing is principled leadership, as opposed to content-free leadership, which we’ve had quite enough of in past years. And we need to expand the leadership — we need more principled people to become active in the conservative movement with the view of becoming leaders.
I believe this election showed that more people are waking up to this idea of principled leadership, and to advancing ideas whether or not it is currently the most popular thing to do. Grass-roots conservatives are fed up with leaders who are no better than they think they absolutely have to be.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
I believe that we should pray as if it all depends on God, and work as if it all depends on us.
– Leah Fabel
